Be Careful When Choosing Consumer Debt Relief Services
There is a growing number of companies offering consumer debt relief services and some of them are quite good at getting people to take control of their spending habits while helping them meet their existing financial obligations. However, there are also those that are in it for the money and many times provide little or no services to the people who count on them for relief. Finding the right consumer debt relief company that works for the consumer will require some research before agreeing to using their services.
It may surprise some people that many of the consumer debt relief companies are funded by lenders, including credit card companies while still collecting a service fee from those they claim to be helping. Before agreeing to a contract with a consumer debt relief counselor, you should know who owns the company and where the loyalty of the workers is focused. A company owned by a credit card company, likely will be more focused on recovering as much of the owner's money as possible as opposed to helping the debtor out of their current jam.
Other than bankruptcy court, there are no consumer debt relief agencies operated by the government, but they do have to follow existing rules concerning fair credit collection laws as well as outright fraud. A few companies have opened their doors, collected initial fess from customers and then disappeared without doing any actual work on behalf of their clients.
Do Not Let Non-Profit Name Fool You
Many companies tout their services as be not for profit, indicating they will not make money from the people they are claiming to help. Actually, it is quite easy for neatly every business to be non-profit provided their expenses are equal to their income. Some of the consumer debt relief companies keep from making profits by ballooning their expenses, such as those use to pay the salaries of their administrators, some of which make over a million dollars a year.
When enough people have complained about a lack of service from a consumer debt relief agency, the government will investigate and often charge those responsible, at least putting them out of business. Unfortunately, it is rare that any restitution finds its way back to the affected individuals.
More often than not, some of these consumer debt relief companies will simply pack up and leave town, reopening further down the road under a different name with questionable credentials. They will go back to raking in their money until they are close to getting caught again, then move once more.
